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How do I buy a book?
If you know which book you want to buy:
- Note the author, title and price of the book[s].
- Fill out our secure form online, with your payment details.
- On receipt of the order, a member of our staff will contact you to
confirm availability and postage.
Alternatively you can contact us at the shop direct, and we can
confirm all the details immediately.
Why do I get a security message
from your secure form?
Our secure form is held on a
separate server to the rest of our website. Your details are stored
here for retrieval by us, but only for as long as necessary - once
we have your order, we delete the order from the server. When the
form is completed your browser is re-directed to our non-secure
server, which causes the security message. Your details are not
passed between the servers, or sent in an email at any time.
Can you guarantee availability?
At the moment, no. Unlike Amazon, for example, our books are
unique items and may be sold in our shop, via a catalogue or through a telephone
enquiry, as well as through the internet. Given the nature of our
fluctuating database we haven't yet integrated this into our website,
although this is certainly something we'd like to do in future. At the
moment we update our listings at the very least once a week, but we
aim to be more frequent. The catalogues are not updated, as we find our
customers often like to read them for themselves.
How much will postage cost?
Within the UK we have a flat-rate system as follows:
£4 per book, to a maximum
of £12.
For orders over £1000 nett postage costs within the UK are met by
us.
For orders overseas postage and insurance is charged at
cost. An approximate guide to the cost per book is given below (the exact price depends upon the weight of the book):
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Europe (incl EIRE) |
£4.50 |
3 - 7 days
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USA & Canada |
£7 |
5 - 14 days
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| Rest of World |
£8 |
7 - 21 days
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Delivery times are approximate. All prices reflect
the cost of airmail, which we recommend for the majority of orders.
If you would prefer a quote for surface postage please let us
know at the time of ordering.
If you require your book quickly we can ship via UPS. Please enquire for rates.
Gift Services: we are happy to ship the book to a second address
as a gift, removing all price information and sending you the
invoice.
What do the descriptions
mean?
Condition
Fine - for a modern book 'as new', with at most limited signs
of wear. For older books (eg 19th and earlier 20th century) a little more wear is
tolerated: the book may be slightly rubbed, or the cloth a little faded
for example. All pages should be present and unblemished, though a
previous owner's bookplate or name is acceptable. In general the book
should present as fresh and well-cared for.
Very Good (VG) - the book will show some signs of use - a
little rubbing or bumping to the spine ends and corners, some minor
soiling of the pages, perhaps some foxing. Generally all pages should be present and intact,
although they may show signs of having been read! Library copies may be
VG, provided they are not heavily worn. As before, more signs of wear
are tolerated the older a book is.
Good - a well-loved copy, basically still intact but
with extensive experience in the field, as it were. Endpapers may be missing, pages may be torn and the
binding loose. A copy to be bought if the book is scarce or if you
desire the content more than the object.
We also employ intermediate descriptions, such as Near
Fine and VG+, which reflect degrees of wear and use. Condition is, of
course, subjective, even as we try to adhere to these standards and you may find that a book may not match or
perhaps exceed your expectations. As your experience of book-collecting
and of our descriptions increases you will find it easier to
know what to expect. (See also terms and conditions with regard to
descriptions.) Technical Terms
This is a large subject and if you are serious about
collecting you may want to invest in a good guide such as 'ABC for
Book Collectors' by John Carter, with additions by Nicholas Barker. Some
basic terms are:
Endpapers: the blank leaves at the front and the back of the book. One
side pasted to the board is the 'pastedown endpaper', the other left free
as the 'free endpaper'.
Flyleaf: the free endpaper, or an additional blank leaf
supplied by the binder.
Foxing/spotting: the red-brown (foxed) or smaller dark
(spotted) blemishes in the paper, caused by impurities in the paper as
well as bacteria and mould. Some paper types are particularly
susceptible (as with browning).
Half/quarter bound: two or more binding materials are
used, of which the more expensive (usually) covers the spine and corners
(half) or just the spine (quarter).
Hinges cracked/broken/starting: the hinge is the inner
join between the text block and the board. If the endpaper is partially
split it is starting, if entirely split then it is cracked. If the cords
or tape are gone it is broken.
Original boards/cloth: the binding in which the book was
issued for sale.
Recto & verso: the upper and lower sides of the right-hand page of a book.
Rubbed: The surface of the leather or cloth is abraded
but the board does not show through.
Can you value my books?
In general we cannot value books without seeing them physically.
This is because the condition is of paramount importance in giving a
correct estimate of a book's worth. In some cases we may be able to give
you a rough idea of the price range, but we'd recommend contacting the
ABA, ABAA or ILAB to try and find a bookdealer local to you so that you
can take the book along. Please be aware that bookdealers may expect you
to be selling your books if you do so: if you are looking for a
valuation purely for insurance purposes please remember that you will be
calling on a bookdealer's wealth of experience and expertise, and there
may be a small charge for her time.
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